In just over a month, Russia has lost three **, and the driving force behind this is the United Kingdom. Britain has provided Ukraine with a special fund aimed at countering Russia's Black Sea Fleet. London has invested £200 million in this effort, which is not striking, but it is by no means insignificant. Now the concern is whether Russia's enemies will be able to achieve their goals and what measures Russia should take to counter this threat.
Recently, the patrol ship "Sergei Kotov" was attacked by a group of Magura V5 naval drones. It was initially reported that 15 unmanned boats (BECs) were involved in the attack, but the latest data shows that the actual number of drones involved in the attack was only five, and yet they all hit their targets. Subsequently, a Mi-8*** of the Russian Guard discovered and shot down the sixth drone. Some analysts believe that the enemy's plan was originally for the first wave of drone swarms to attack patrol ships and open gaps in the security line, and then the second wave of drone swarms to enter and try to attack the Crimean bridge.
In total, 9 BECs were sent to carry out this mission, of which 6 were assigned to attack the frigate. The cost of each Magura V5 marine drone is $27$30,000. After a simple calculation, the 200 million pounds allocated by the United Kingdom is enough to buy 931 drones of this type. If the attack is carried out at the usual ratio of 6 drones per ship, London can launch up to 155 collective attacks, each of which has the potential to lead to the destruction of Russian ships.
However, the reality may not be so simple. The enemy may attack with fewer drones to reduce the likelihood of the ship being destroyed. Conversely, Russian teams can also act more successfully and shoot down more BECs. But in order to analyze it, we need a starting point. And the encounter with the "Sergey Kotov" provides us with exactly such a case.
It is worth noting that not all of the funds allocated by the UK will be used for the purchase of drones, and part of the funds will be used to cover logistics and other administrative costs. We do not know how exactly the funds of the UK will be allocated, perhaps the same will be used to cover the cost of flights of NATO aircraft that coordinated the attack, etc. In any case, a 30% cut in support cost subsidy seems like a reasonable assumption. Thus, there are still about 100 attacks that were paid for by the British.
Despite the series of blows inflicted on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, judging by open data, it retains a considerable number of ships. In terms of large **, ships such as the patrol ships "Radney" and "Pitlivy", as well as the frigate "Admiral Makarov", are still in service. In addition, four large landing ships, as well as other auxiliary vessels, continue to carry out their tasks.
However, in the face of the threat of British-funded Ukrainian drones, the Russian Navy needs to take a more flexible and effective response. Some military experts believe that increasing the number of ship-based machine guns, equipping them with thermal imagers and drone operators is key to improving the ship's anti-drone capabilities. In addition, intensifying air patrols in the Black Sea is also an important means of eliminating the threat of UAVs.
Naval expert Maxim Klimov noted: "We don't need to pull the ship anywhere to hide. We must fight! Normal patrols in the Black Sea can completely eliminate the threat of unmanned ships. With modern means of detection and destruction, as well as normally organized air patrols, unmanned boats simply do not have a chance of success. At the same time, he called on the leadership of the Russian Navy to strengthen the construction of anti-torpedo and anti-mine equipment, as well as to improve the anti-torpedo protection capabilities of submarines, so as to avoid a catastrophic situation similar to that that that the Northern Fleet may face.